Directors’ pay at Foster & Partners Group has shot up by a massive 42% — despite the firm plunging further into the red following the cost of having to make a quarter of its staff redundant
I find this distasteful. As the captain of the ship, if the ship is sinking aren't you supposed to go down with it? This year the office awarded no pay raises or bonuses to staff. And yet the directors [six people] get an additional £1.8 million?! If you divide £1.8m equally among 1000 employees it comes out to £1800.
How is it possible to justify this ethically?
I would be interested in hearing opinions on this, particularly from people who have their own practice and are in the employer position.
Look at any other business out there. The smaller fish might go down with the ship, but the bigger players protect themselves.
I don't disagree with you, though. I pay the people that work for me immediately, even though arch in general has a f'd up payment "can't pay until paid" methodology.
More than money, I think it sends a bad message to employees. Not exactly a moral booster to see your colleague booted and your boss getting a new retirement fund.
I've had a boss do something similar - cut my pay to pay for his $4000 rims and a new addition to his house.
Half his staff, including me, quit within 2 weeks of eachother. Not exactly good for his business.
I find it really distasteful that an owner would fire employees or cut their pay while simultaneously giving himself a huge raise or bonus or whatever. They have the right to do so, but if you do that often enough - or get enough media attention from it - it's going to come back to bite you in the ass. Word of mouth goes a long way in any industry.
Probably based on recently collected fee's based on projects prior to the collapse of the economy.
If staff was paid wages prior to their layoff, then in foster's eye's they've been duly compensated for their work to date (though i heard foster's office is a slave-driven factory).
partners probably feel there is no reason they should use their previously projected profits to support a staff that has nothing to work on. "It's nothing personal, just business" as the saying goes.
then again, the whole article makes those guys at the top look like a bunch of f*cking ass wipes in the eyes of their struggling employees...especially that photo of foster, makes him look like an asshole galore.
after a while, nobody really gives a shit and they soon forget. eventually there will be other's who will wanna work for him again -and the cycle repeats itself.
When F+P went public and Norman sold a large portion of the company, they began a hiring frenzy to shore up investor confidence, knowing full well they would have to make a portion redundant.
And then 6 months later, when those redundancies occured, they underwent a costly restructuring process to stream line the company [redundancies, closing offices, moving offices, combinign offices, consolidating and making refurbments to the London office campus. etc.].
Then they turn around and say that due to the restructuring, there wont be any bonuses or pay raises. Except of course for the upper 5%. 42% in one year is an enormous increase, no matter what level you're at or what profession you're in. It's a pyramid scheme.
Similar thing happening here at a big NY office...at least the restructuing...not sure about the partners pay. I do know that last Feb, the entire office worldwide and at all levels took a 10% pay cut.
That being said, this year is projected to be the very profitable due to payment of fees prior to the downturn and the fact that we are working with a near 35% staff reduction. So in F&P's case, if their bonuses are to be paid as usual based on profit...then maybe this is where the extra money is comming from.
Aug 28, 09 12:53 pm ·
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Foster and Partner's Directors make additional 7 figures in spite of downturn
From BD online:
Directors’ pay at Foster & Partners Group has shot up by a massive 42% — despite the firm plunging further into the red following the cost of having to make a quarter of its staff redundant
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3147529
I find this distasteful. As the captain of the ship, if the ship is sinking aren't you supposed to go down with it? This year the office awarded no pay raises or bonuses to staff. And yet the directors [six people] get an additional £1.8 million?! If you divide £1.8m equally among 1000 employees it comes out to £1800.
How is it possible to justify this ethically?
I would be interested in hearing opinions on this, particularly from people who have their own practice and are in the employer position.
It pays to be at the top.
Look at any other business out there. The smaller fish might go down with the ship, but the bigger players protect themselves.
I don't disagree with you, though. I pay the people that work for me immediately, even though arch in general has a f'd up payment "can't pay until paid" methodology.
More than money, I think it sends a bad message to employees. Not exactly a moral booster to see your colleague booted and your boss getting a new retirement fund.
It is definitely not beneficial for morale. A fair number of people are leaving of their own accord, and in this economic climate no less.
I've had a boss do something similar - cut my pay to pay for his $4000 rims and a new addition to his house.
Half his staff, including me, quit within 2 weeks of eachother. Not exactly good for his business.
I find it really distasteful that an owner would fire employees or cut their pay while simultaneously giving himself a huge raise or bonus or whatever. They have the right to do so, but if you do that often enough - or get enough media attention from it - it's going to come back to bite you in the ass. Word of mouth goes a long way in any industry.
Probably based on recently collected fee's based on projects prior to the collapse of the economy.
If staff was paid wages prior to their layoff, then in foster's eye's they've been duly compensated for their work to date (though i heard foster's office is a slave-driven factory).
partners probably feel there is no reason they should use their previously projected profits to support a staff that has nothing to work on. "It's nothing personal, just business" as the saying goes.
then again, the whole article makes those guys at the top look like a bunch of f*cking ass wipes in the eyes of their struggling employees...especially that photo of foster, makes him look like an asshole galore.
after a while, nobody really gives a shit and they soon forget. eventually there will be other's who will wanna work for him again -and the cycle repeats itself.
I think the story goes something like this:
When F+P went public and Norman sold a large portion of the company, they began a hiring frenzy to shore up investor confidence, knowing full well they would have to make a portion redundant.
And then 6 months later, when those redundancies occured, they underwent a costly restructuring process to stream line the company [redundancies, closing offices, moving offices, combinign offices, consolidating and making refurbments to the London office campus. etc.].
Then they turn around and say that due to the restructuring, there wont be any bonuses or pay raises. Except of course for the upper 5%. 42% in one year is an enormous increase, no matter what level you're at or what profession you're in. It's a pyramid scheme.
Similar thing happening here at a big NY office...at least the restructuing...not sure about the partners pay. I do know that last Feb, the entire office worldwide and at all levels took a 10% pay cut.
That being said, this year is projected to be the very profitable due to payment of fees prior to the downturn and the fact that we are working with a near 35% staff reduction. So in F&P's case, if their bonuses are to be paid as usual based on profit...then maybe this is where the extra money is comming from.
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